The silent majority, we ignored, that voted Trump

The dust is hardly settling on a million angry liberal (as in left-wing liberal, not Australian ALP combo of Turnbull/Abbott nightmare combo) keyboards. Democrats, liberals, left-wingers…call them whatever you want – they’re all in witty shock.

“I’m noticing those “Don’t Worry, America Will Be Fine No Matter Who’s Elected” articles are never written by women, Mexicans, or Muslims,” quipped music writer, DanOzzi. “We could shoot him”, mused SirDavidAttenborough, famous conservationist of natural life/the world’s saintly grandfather, “it’s not a bad idea”. Others, like gay rights activist, Eliza Bayard, maintained a different kind of hope – that the high number of young democrat voters would mean a brighter future for Americans. But throughout the land, all over, the same question seems to be being asked – how the hell did Trump become leader of the first world?

Potentially the answer lies not in what we know, but what we have been ignoring – those who actually want to vote for Trump. For example, if your social sphere includes not only Americans, but their slightly posher cousins from across the pond, you’ll notice this theme of outraged surprise that is emerging has certain patterns. Here is a popular meme that is circulating through Brits sat the moment: ‘Britain: “Brexit was undoubtedly the stupidest thing any country has done in 2016”, USA: “Hold my drink.”’

Underneath this flurry of American and IQ-bashing there seems to be a deeper pattern emerging in the public political world – particularly between Brexit and the US election.

A population faces a controversial and conservative choice

Commentators widely predict the public will make the more liberal choice – almost anyone with access to media says this, whilst those who don’t are roundly mocked

These commentators are surprised by a shock swing to the right.

In Britain, it was the older generation, who experienced higher unemployment rates in rural areas; in America, Trump won a lot of the less urban areas. Could it be possible that followers of the privileged media (and the media themselves) are getting blindsided by skewed predictions? That ‘the silent majority’ are not just silent – but are actively ignored?

Perhaps the one positive thing that could come out of Trump’s presidency (besides a continuation of the fun Twitter fuck ups – I mean, were any of us ready for those to end?) is that it’s happening has revealed a hole in the overall vision by the larger public. People who are ignored (in this, case, the working class American), should not be – that’s how we get lumped with Trumps.

Of course, having said that, here’s hoping that with this Republican doomsday, (which comes with a VP that thinks you can teach people to not be gay) minorities will not slip into obscurity. If they do, take a look at Bayard’s youth vote prediction map – it’ll come back to bite you in the most mysterious ways.

This is how the future voted. This is what people 18-25 said in casting their votes. We must keep this flame alight and nurture this vision. pic.twitter.com/ivuXrar869